This invention relates to a portable alarm device equipped with a plurality of warning indicators which can be identified by the user to give him preselected warnings at preselected times, e.g. indications when pills should be taken or tasks are to be performed.
People who have very busy schedules need reminders of their next appointment or task. In most cases this is accomplished with a diary or schedule which is written out by hand. A typical example of such a schedule is the ordinary desk calendar which has lines representing the hours of the day. However, this may be ineffective if the user is away from his desk or fails to check it at frequent intervals. Also, they are usually not portable. If a pocket note pad is used, there is a likelihood that it will not be referred to until after the time for an appointment has passed. In order to overcome some of these problems, alarm wrist watches have been made which will sound an audible alarm at a preset time; thus causing the wearer to refer to his note pad for an explanation of what action is due from him at that time. One difficulty with this arrangement, however, is that most watches can alarm at only one preset time. Therefore, the schedule for the entire day cannot be set at one time. Those watches capable of being actuated at more than one time are also deficient in that they do not permit the operation of multiple alarms distinctly associated with separate events, since each alarm is identical to the others in terms of the signal issued.
One use for multiple alarms associated with separate, distinct events is in connection with ambulatory patients. These patients, who are responsible for taking medication prescribed by their physicians, have a particular need for a portable device to warn them when one or more of a number of pills is to be taken. Such tasks can happen several times during a day, and each time one or more of several different drugs has to be consumed.
Pill dispensing devices which dispense pills at specific times have been heretofore proposed. For example, pill dispensing devices are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,918,045 to Williams and 3,698,900 to Stambuck, in which timing disks activate mechanisms that dispense the proper medicine at the proper times. However, these devices are bulky and cannot be carried about by the patient. Also, the plurality of timing disks used with these mechanisms make it difficult to obtain an overview of the patient's medication schedule. A pill dispenser having a keyboard to program the allocation of drugs is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,998,356 to Christensen. Here again, however, the device is necessarily located at a particular station and is not portable. U.S. Pat. No. 3,227,127 to Gayle discloses a portable mechanical device which indicates when the last pill has been taken, but it does not alert the user to the time when the next pill should be taken.